Fender Vintage Noiseless

Categorized | Guitar Basics

Posted on 26 October 2010. Tags: fender, fender vintage noiseless pickups, fender vintage noiseless pickups review, fender vintage noiseless review, fender vintage noiseless telecaster, fender vintage noiseless telecaster pickups review, guitar, hardware, luthier, pickups

Fender Vintage Noiseless

Should I make this trade?

Ok, so I have an Epiphone G-400 SG, and a Fender Strat copy. I'm thinking of trading my Epiphone for Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups, and a Seymour Duncan SHR1 Hot Rails Pickup (Bridge) for my Strat copy. Is this a good idea, or will it not be worth it in the end?
Oh, and I prefer a Strat's sound 1000% over the best my Epiphone can do.
Oh, and I prefer a Strat's sound 1000% over the best my Epiphone can do.

Hello there,

First lets look at the value given up. An Epiphone G-400 will sell for $135 to $175 depending on condition and color. Now the value of the pickups. You can buy a set of new Fender Noiseless pickups for $115.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Fender-Noiseless-Stratocaster-Pickup-Set-/300535849383?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item45f95521a7

You can buy a used Hot Rails pickup for $25 to $35.

So the value is about the same depending on where in the price range your guitar would sell. But at the low end of the sales value for your guitar and the sales value of the pickups are close.

Is it a good idea. That depends on if you really like Noiseless pickups. Frankly I do not care for them. I think they have a muddy sound and would never have them on any of my Strats. I always refer to them as Fender Toneless pickups. Of course, that is my opinion of how they sound. Others like them. Have you ever heard or played a guitar with Noiseless pickups? Do you know how they actually sound? If not, why would you think about putting them on your guitar.

Is this a good idea. If you have a Strat copy, it may or may not be worth putting money into upgrades. Frankly very cheap poor quality Strat clones are not worth putting very much money into. Frequently, you are better off selling it and adding what you got for the guitar to the money you would have spent on upgrades to buy a better quality guitar. The pickups are only one factor in how the guitar will sound. The quality of the body and the neck are big factors. The quality of the tremolo bridge is a factor in how it sounds and how well it stays in tune.. The quality of the tuning pegs is a factor in how well the guitar stays in tune. If you have a poor quality Strat clone, I would not bother putting expensive pickups on it. I would get Squier Standard pickups or Fender Standard MIM pickups. You can get a set of Squier Standard pickups for $20. A set of MIM pickups for $35. Those will improve your tone. Putting top of the line pickups on a low qualty guitar is a waste of the pickups because the guitar is not good enough to get the full value of the pickups. Also, if you have a low end Strat clone like a Squier SE or an Affinity, I would never bother upgrading those at all. They are not good enough quality to make a decent base for a project guitar.

If you like the sound of your Strat as it is, why do you want to swap out the pickups? You said you like your present pickups 1000% over the Epiphone already. Why do anything to the Strat? What do you expect to get from changing it? You may find you do not like the sound of Noiseless pickups as well as the pickups you already have.

Later,